short balls wednesday

Tennis players are human, too: Some need hookers, some need meth. Others need a better immune system. It was revealed earlier this week that touring pro Tommy Haas is recovering from swine flu and is out of Basel and Paris to finish the season. See ya next year, TomTom.

B-listed in Bali: It’s strange that the women’s tour, which had its season-ending tournament last week, has another tour stop in Bali this week, don’t you think? We think so. The girls looked a little overworked in this photo gallery put together by the WTA. Ready for holiday and rest time, ladies? You deserve it. And shouldn’t it be called the “Tournament of Almost Champions“? Just seems a little more appropriate…

Inside peek, hold the cheese: The ATP has put together a solid video package for it’s “Uncovered” series, and this week features Novak Djokovic. The videos come with sit-down interviews and a look at the players’ off-court lives. While lots of stuff the tours put together can sometimes seem forced and overdone, we’re liking the professionalism and simplicity of these vids. James Blake was last week’s star. Now let’s talk about re-working that intro…

Talking heads: Two gals – Jennifer Williams and Brittany Umar – have been talking up tennis the past couple of weeks on the web. Williams is a regular reporter for ESPN.com’s Digital Serve, while Umar was a fill-in for TennisWeek.com‘s regular host, Carrie Milbank. While we respect these ladies for chatting up the tour online, we’re wondering if this is the future of tennis media online? Williams has her wits about her, but Umar seems to mostly be entrenched as a business reporter.

Painful good-bye: Stephanie Myles writes in the the Vancouver Sun that the WTA season has limped to a close this year. Good thing the girls are done battling. But the men? They still have three weeks left.

Au revoir, Roland?: A delayed stadium project in Paris could end up moving the French Open completely. Officials are trying to work with city council members to avoid having to move the beloved clay major, but it might be inevitable, one official said. So where to, we wonder?